While
many Division I athletes are simply not afforded the ability to have an abroad
experience due to year round athletic commitments, the beauty of Dartmouth and
its "D-plan" is that it allows many of its athletes to take a term to study
abroad. This winter term, my teammates, Patrick Murray'14, Stoian Nedelchev '13,
and Colin Skelly'14, and I (Justin Rosner '14), have taken this opportunity to
study abroad in Barcelona, Spain.

We arrived in Spain during the beginning of January and
will be here for a total of ten weeks - until mid March. As soon as we arrived,
we were thrust into the wonderfully different culture of Barcelona. We quickly
learned that in Barcelona everything seems to always be happening much later
than usual. For example, lunch doesn't happen until about three or four in the
afternoon, and dinner doesn't occur for many until nine or ten o'clock at
night!

We are
all living right off of "La Rambla," which is one of the busiest, most popular
streets in the entire city. While the many restaurants and stores that line the
street are a huge benefit to our everyday lives, perhaps the greatest thing
about our location is its close proximity to "La Boqueria" - one of Spain's
(and Europe's) largest outdoor markets. La Boqueria, which is literally less
than a minute walk from where we live, is overflowing with every type of fresh
food one could think of, from fresh seafood to meats, cheeses, chocolates,
gelato, and everything else in between. While we spend most days near La Rambla,
we have also managed to see much of the rest of the city and its sites. We have
seen Casa Batllo and La Sagrada Familia, both well known works of
Spain's greatest architectural genius, Antonio Gaudi. Some of the guys also
managed to make it over to Camp Nou, FC Barcelona's home stadium, to watch FC
Barcelona play Real Madrid in their Copa Del Rey match last month. We have also
taken some day trips to nearby cities to see such things as the Salvador Dali
museum and to hike Montserrat, a beautiful mountain well known for the monks
that live there year round.

While
there has been much to see in Barcelona and nearby, our travels have also taken
us outside of Spain. So far, among the four of us, we have managed to travel to
France, Italy, Scotland, Switzerland, and Holland. We've gotten chances to see
such things as the Coliseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the
Vatican.

During
the week we attend classes just a ten-minute walk across the city from where we
live. Among the four of us, we are studying a wide range of topics, from
international economics and Spanish film to Spanish geography and culture. We
have also been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to train with a local
Spanish club on the outskirts of the city each week. While it is great to receive
proper training each week to stay in shape, perhaps the greatest benefit has
been our exposure to the Spanish that is spoken on the field during practice.
Undoubtedly, the things we have learned from training with this team go beyond
just soccer.

With
just a month left over here, we plan to travel more and continue to immerse
ourselves in the culture of Barcelona and Spain as much as possible before our
return to Hanover for the start of the spring season.